Participatory evaluation of mobile tree nursery

Abstract

Tree nurseries vary greatly from a few dozen seedlings grown in household
nurseries to mechanized commercial enterprises producing millions of seedlings
per year. Household nurseries are established and managed by individual
farmers and/or their families to meet the family’s need for tree seedlings; they
may also generate income through selling seedlings. Furthermore, seedlings may
be provided to community members to enhance local relationships and social
capital (Roshetko et al., 2010).
The establishment of permanent and high capacity nurseries requires initial
high investment, utilizes the land permanently and is labour intensive. Fencing,
land preparation and installation of irrigation systems are some of the activities
needed to establish a permanent forest tree and shrub nursery: mobile nurseries
may help to avoid these issues. In addition, farmers can transport mobile
nurseries with small quantities of seedlings on their shoulders or back, or by
donkey or horse.
Nursery production is a seasonal activity and seedling numbers will vary
considerably depending on the forest development project. Flexible, easily
manageable and effective nurseries are important to fulfil the demand at
household level and encourage forest development that will contribute to
preventing land degradation and help to mitigate the effects of climate change.
Nursery practices may be carried out in the morning or evening in conjunction
with animal management activities, contributing to more efficient household
labour. Thus, mobile nurseries made from locally available material could
circumvent the need for high cost permanent nurseries as well as reduce the
costs of household labour